Bottle holder



H. K. POWELL BOTTLE HOLDER April 13, 1943. 7

Filed Aug. 4, 1938 Patented Apr. 13, 1943 BOTTLE HOLDER.

Henry K. Powell, Chicago, Ill., asslgnor to Morris Paper Mills, Chicago,111., a corporation of Illi- I nois Application August 4, 1938, SerialNo. 222,963

(01. zze zs) Claims.

This invention relates to containers, of the collapsible or knock-downtype, which are adapted to be set up at the point of use for the purposeof packaging a plurality of articles, such as a number of bottles, in amanner such as to retain them securely and permit them to be carriedconveniently as a group.

A general object of the present invention is the provision of such acontainer which can be made very economically from paper board orsimilar inexpensive material in sizes and proportions such as to holdsecurely bottles of the order of 14 ounce capacity or larger, with useof minimum amount of material and without requiring the application ofspecial or additional fastenings at the time they are set up orassembled.

Another object is the provision of such a container which can be made.of relatively light paper board and yet have the necessary strength toact as a holder and carrier for a number of such bottles, say one-halfdozen, and which will permit of the insertion and removal of thebottles, when desired, without requiring any dismantling or mutilationof the container itself, thus permitting its being preserved as arepository for the bottles when they are empty and as a means fortransporting them back to the place of purchase,

Yet another object' is the provision of such a container having theattributes, mentioned above and which, in knocked-down condition, can bepackaged in numbers in very small space.

Other and further objects of the'invention will be pointed out orindicated hereinafter or will be apparent from the following descriptionor upon actual use of the devices themselves.

For the purpose of aiding in an explanation of the invention, I show inthe accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, andhereinafter describe, one form in which it may be embodied. It is to beunderstood, however, that this is presented merely ior purpose ofillustration, and isnot to be construed in any fashion for the purposeof limiting the appended claims short of the true and most comprehensivescope of the invention in the art.

In said drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle holder embodying the presentinvention, showing same in assembled condition and illustrating indotted lines the positions occupied by bottles packaged in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the blank constituting the body member of thedevice shown in Fig. l,

. same being shown on a scale considerably small- B and C, as the casemay be.

er than that of Figs 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the body member in its flat folded orcollapsed condition; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the girth mem ber illustrated in Fig. 2,but showing the same in a partially collapsed or flat folded condition.

The nature of the invention will be most quickly ascertained from adescription of the embodiment shown in this drawing, which is asfollows.

The container comprises a body member and a retainer member, both formedof fiat sheet material, such as paper board, and both adapted to becollapsed to a flat folded form so that they may be stacked, forpackaging and shipment, in a greatly reduced space, as compared with thecubage which they occupy in set-up condition. In Fig. 3 is shown thebody member blank in its primary form. It is comprised of a continuousstrip of approximately uniform width creased transversely with a topcrease at A, inner bottom creases at B, and outer bottom creases at C,all of said creases being parallel. The areas between crease A and therespective inner bottom creases B constitute inner panels l0 and I0while those between the respective creases B and C constitute bottompanels II and I l', and those outwardly beyond the creases C constituteouter panels l2 and i2. pierced by handle-receiving apertures l4, andits side margins are formed with oppositely disposed notches iZa in theouter panels and la in the inner panels, said notches being of the 7same extent lengthwise of the blank and at the same spacing from theproximate crease lines By. virtue of these notches, the margins of thesheet are formed with shoulders l5 on the inner and outer panels.

The retainer member is illustrated in Figs. 2,

and 5. It is primarily a closed band or tube, formed of a strip of paperboard or the like with its ends fastened together and subdivided bycorner creases into outer walls 20, inner walls 2|, and end walls 22.The tube is split transversely along a median line so that the outerwalls and the adjacent end walls are each severed into two sections, butthe inner walls 2| are left conjoined along a medial crease line D. Thispermits the inner walls 2| to be flexed into surface contact with eachother, as may be seen in Fig. 2. When On'the crease A the sheet is soflexed, and the end walls flexed into perpen-' ally disposedcompartments which are .open at the top and bottom.

For purpose or packaging and shipment, the retainer member is collapsedto a flat form with the inner walls 2| in the same plane and against theinner surfaces of the outer walls 20.

For packaging, the body member is folded to a flat form as illustratedin Fig. 4, by first flexing it on the fold lines B so as to lay thebottom panels and outer panels over on top of the inner panels l andIll, and then flexing it on line A to bring the opposite surfaces of theinner panels into engagement with each other.

A suitable handleis provided for mounting in the handle holes ll, such ahandle being illustrated in Fig. 1 as comprising a bail having anarcuate portion 25 and parallel leg portions 26 at its ends and alignedtrunnion portions 21 extending toward each other from the lower ends ofsaid leg portions. The spacing of the leg portions 26 corresponds'to thespacing of the handle holes I4.

To set up the container from the collapsed condition, the body member isfirst unfolded along the line A, so that the inner panels I0 and Ill arebrought into the same plane. Then it is bowed or arched transversely, soas to bring the handle holes I! close enough to each other to permit theends of the trunnion portions 21 of the handle to be inserted throughthem. The respective trunnions having been through the respective handleholes, the body member is then released so that it springs back to itsflat form, thus securing the trunnions 21 under the portions of thesheet intermediate the holes, thus fastening the handle to the bodymemher.

Then the outer panels are flexed on the lines C relative to theirassociated bottom panels H, and the bottom panels and lower ends of theinner and outer panels are inserted through the: compartments of theretainer member, which has been opened up to approximately the shapeshown in Fig. 2. The body member isthus inserted in the retainer memberuntil the latter passes into the notches Illa, whereupon the outer walls20 are swung to perpendicular relationship to the end walls 22 and thebottom panels I l are swung into perpendicular relationship to the innerand outer panels. The shoulders l thus are engagedover and under themargins of the end walls of the retainer member at both their inner andouter corners.

Thus the container is put into the set-up form shown in Fig. 1, theshoulders l5 holding the retainer member against sliding upwardly ordownwardly on the body member, and the connection with the inner walls2| on the fold line D limiting the extent to which the inner panels HIand I0 may be swung apart.

The bottles are placed in the container simply by introducing them intothe upwardly opening compartments between the inner and outer panels,and standing them on the bottom panels II and ll'p Thus the bottles areretained in sep arate rows at opposite sides of the inner panels.Thebuter panels l2 are preferably of such height as to extend asubstantial proportion of the height of the bottles, and the retainermember is of such height, and the notches Illa. and I211. so disposed,that the end walls of the compartinserted ments, which are formed by theend walls 22 of the retainer member; extend a substantial proportion ofthe height of the bottles. Thus the bottles are securely retainedagainst sliding off the bottom panels or toppling out of thecompartments.

When so packed, the container and its contents are carried withconvenience by means of the handle, which has a flexible or rockingconnection by virtue of the bearing of the trunnions 21 in the crotch atthe upper ends of the inner panels. By virtue of this rocking connectionthe sheet material is not subject to serious strain or distortionincident to the swinging or moving of the package while being carried bythe handle.

By virtue of the leg portions 26, the handle may drop down to a positionWhere th arcuate bail portion 25 is below the tops of the bottles, thehandle thus being out of the way, for the purpose of permitting othersimilar packages to be supported on the tops of the bottles conjointly.

The bottles may be removed whenever desired without involving anydistortion, mutilation or taking apart of the holder, and when some orall of the bottles have been removed, the holder still retains itsproper set-up form, ready to receive them again.

This holder requires 'but little more area than is requisite toaccommodate the bottles which it contains, hence it is adapted to beused in crates or cases in which larger numbers of the bottlescustomarily are acked, for example, cases of two dozen bottles. Thus itforms a sub-unit in the case package, permitting the-bottles to beremoved from the case and in the ready packaged condition, six at atime. Inasmuch as all of the bottles are visible in the holder, it canbe ascertained at a glance whether or not the case or any particularholder has its complete contents and whether or not any of the bottleshave been unstoppered.

When supported'bythe handle, the bottom and outer panels are verysecurely sustained by the retainer member, which becomes a quite rigidstructure because of the support afforded the outer and end walls by theabutment of the inner walls 2| againsteach other under the weight of thecontents, and the abutment of the lower portions of the inner panels l0and I0.

It will be observed that this holder retains the bottles very securely,and afiords them protection againstbeing bumped against other objects,and also grasps them tightly in the holder when it is being carried bythe handle, due to the drag or pressure against the bottom panels by theweight of the bottles, which tends to swing the lower portions of theinner and outer panels inwardly and thus offset them somewhat relativeto the intermediate portions which are held braced apart by theintervening double thickness of the inner walls 2|. To emphasizethis-efiect, the notches IS in the outer panels l2 and I2 may be setslightly lower, or closer to the fold lines C, than are the notches ISin the inner panels l0 and ID to the fold lines B.

What I claim is:

1. A container for carrying bottles or the like comprising a body memberand a retainer member both formed of sheet material and adapted to becollapsed to flattened form, said body member comprising a pair of irmerpanels which are connected at their upper ends, bottom panels extendingoutwardly from the lower ends of the inner panels respectively, andouter panels extending upwardly from the outer margins of the 2,816,188bottom panels; and the retainer member comprising portions arranged toencompass the body member and form end walls extending across the spacebetween the outer panels and inner panels at the ends of the bottompanels and having portions disposed between the inne panels; the bodymember being provided with a handle at the upper ends of the innerpanels. v

2. A container for carrying bottles or the like comprising a body memberand a retainer member both formed of sheet material and adapted to becollapsed to flattened form, said body member comprising a pair of innerpanels which are connected at their upper ends, bottom panels extendingoutwardly from the lower ends of the inner panels respectively, andouter panels extending upwardly from the outer margins oi. the

bottom panels; and the retainer member comprising portions arranged toencompass the body member and form end walls extending across the spacebetween the outer panels and inner panels at the ends of the bottompanels and having inner walls disposed between the inner panels nectedat their upper ends, bottom panels extend ing outwardly from the lowerends of the inner panels respectively, and outer panels extendingupwardly from the outer margins of the bottom 7 panels; and the retainermember comprising portions arranged to encompass the-body member andform end walls extending across the space between the outer panels andinner panels at the ends of the bottom panels, said retainer memberhavinga pair of inner walls connected respectively to outer walls by endwalls to form collaterally disposed compartments, said inner walls'being connected to each other along longitudinal margins, and one eachof the inner and outer panels of the body member extending through therespective compartments; the body member being provided with a handle atthe upper ends of the inner panels.

'4. A container for carrying'bottles or the like comprising a bodymember and a retainer member both formed of ,sheet material and adaptedto be collapsed to flattened form, said body member comprising a pair ofinner panels which are slipping off and being provided with a. handle atI the upper ends of the inner panels.

5. A container for carrying bottles or the like comprising a body memberand a retainer member both formed of sheet material and adapted to becollapsed to flattened form, said body member comprising a pair oi!inner panels which are connected at their upper ends, bottom panelsextending upwardly from the outer margins of bottom panels; and theretainer member coma prising portions arranged to encompass the memberand form end wallsextending across the: space between the outer panelsand inner panels? at the ends of the bottom panels, the outer and innerpanels being notched at their outer ends and the retainer member havingportions seated in said notches; the body member being provided with ahandle at the upper ends of the inner panels.

6. A container for carrying bottles or the like inner panelsrespectively, and outer panelsexi comprising a body member and aretainer member both formed of sheet material and adapted to becollapsed to flattened form, said body mem-- ber comprising a pair ofinner panels which are connected at their upper ends, bottom panelsextending outwardly from the lower ends of the inner panelsrespectively, and outer panels extending upwardly from the outer marginsof the bottom panels; and the retainer member comprising portionsarranged to encompass the body member and form end walls extendingacross the space between the outer panels and inner panels at the endsof the bottom panels, the outer and inner panels having shouldersextending over the upper margins of the end walls, the said shoulders ofthe outer panels being closer to the bottom panels than arethose or theinner panels; the body member being provided with a handle at the upperends of the inner panels.

7. A container for carrying bottles or the like comprising a body memberand a retainer member both formed of sheet material and adapted to becollapsed to flattened form, said body mem-' ber comprising a pair ofinner panels which are connected at their upper ends and which innerpanels are connected to outer panels by bottom panels at their lowerends, whereby the bottom panels may be flexed to approximately riglitangular relationship to the inner panels and the outer panels may beflexed to positions approximately parallel with the inner panels; theretainer member comprising portions arranged to encompass the bodymember and form end walls extending across the spaces between the outerpanels and inner panels at the ends of the bottom panels, the outerpanels having portions engageable over portions of the retainer memberto 'retain them against sliding'downwardly from it and the inner panelshaving portions engageable with the retainer member to hold it againstsliding downwardly on them; the body member being provided with a handleat the upper ends of the inner panels whereby the container may,

be carried.

8. A container for carrying bottles and the like comprising acollapsible body member formed of a sheet of paper board creased toprovide a pair 01' inner panels which are connected to each other alonga top crease line at their upper ends and are connected at their lowerends to respective, outer panels by respective bottom portions, meansfor supporting the inner and outer panels in upstanding angularrelationship to the bottom portions when the container is in set-upcondition, said body member being provided with handle holes spaced fromeach other on said top crease line, a pre-formed rigid handle having abail with trunnion extending toward each other from it ends, saidtrunnions being insertable through said handle holes endwise only andthe spacing of their inner ends being less than the spacing of thehandle holes; said sheet, when in its flat condition, being flexibleintermediate said handle holes to bring them close enough 'together topermit insertion of the handle trunnions through them to positions wherethey en-" cage under the sheet along said top crease line when thecontainer is in set-up condition, to form a carrying support for thebody member.

9. A container for carrying bottles or the like

